I last posted progress on my Mood Blanket in mid March (HERE).
I was getting a bit bored with taking photos of the same old squares
over and over (and over) and wanted to change the design a bit to indicate the change of season and also to make the project more interesting!
Stripes seemed like a good idea, but a stripe a day would result in a very long blanket! Two rows a week (in the overall mood for that week) keeps the blanket more or less in line with the size I had planned from the start.
At the end of March there were five blocks short on my last row, and so the first five days of April had to be squares!
My mood rows so far:
Pink = Sociable (6 - 12 April)
Green = Inspired (13 - 19 April)
Yellow = Happy (20 - 26 April)
Orange = Energetic (27 April - 3 May)
Purple = Grateful (4 May - 10 May)
I shared this photo in various crochet groups of a little "Rainbows and Daisies" project I have been working on and I was inundated with requests for the pattern. I also had the privilege of my photo being used as the Group Cover Photo on the Crochet Mood Blanket 2014 FB Page for this week!
I used my MOOD BLANKET SQUARE for the first three rows of my"Rainbows & Daisies" Square and it never ceases to amaze me how colour and row composition can change the appearance of the same pattern!!
Day 72 and still making 1 square a day - although I have to admit that this week I really wished I had rather done a square a week!! I have so many WIP's and new projects planned that it takes discipline to actually make that one leeeeetle tineee square every day!
Missy arrives to investigate.....
My new stash has started arriving ........ and it is so pretty! I almost wanted to leave it on my craft table and stare at it all week!
At the top of the photo you will see a few really bright! colours peeking out - they are the cutest little 25g balls and are so bright you have wear shades to look at them. This was an extremely impulsive buy, probably spurred on by the gloomy weather we have been having!
I have decided to make a Baby Groovyghan with these colours. I am teaching a few friends to crochet, so I will be using very simple squares and stripes so that my "beginner" crochet friends will feel confident crocheting along. I will be posting the patterns for the squares and the stripes as we go.
The patterns will all be written in US terms
Yarn: Mirage 4ply (100% Acrylic)
Hook Size: 3.50mm
Blanket size: 85cm x 110cm
The first square will be my:
RAINBOWS AND DAISIES SQUARE:
5 Rows worked in the round
Measurement of completed square: 10cm x 10cm
Make 8 of these
Foundation (bright yellow): 4ch, ss to form ring
Row 1 (bright yellow): 4 ch (counts as 1dc 1ch), 1dc 1ch into ring (repeat 11 times) (12 x 1dc, 1ch groups) ss to close, break off yarn
Row 2 (white): Into any 1ch sp, 2ch 2dc cluster, 3ch; *3dc cluster, 3ch* crochet *to* 11x (12 clusters), ss to close, break off yarn
Note: a 3dc cluster is formed as follows - yarn over
hook, work the first part of the stitch leaving 2 loops on your hook,
repeat this twice more (four loops on hook) Yarn over hook and draw through the loops on the hook to form your cluster
Row 3 (colour of your choice): Into any 3ch sp crochet 3ch, 2dc; 3dc into next
3ch sp; *3tr, 3ch, 3tr (corner) into next 3ch sp; 3dc into next two
3ch spaces* 3 x from * to*; 3tr, 3ch, 3tr into last 3ch space; ss to
close:
Row 4: 3ch, 1dc into the top of each dc on previous row; into corners 2dc, 3ch, 2dc (repeat until round completed) ss into top of third chain to close; break off yarn:
Row 5 (white): 3ch, 1dc into the top of each dc on previous row; into corners 2dc, 3ch, 2dc (repeat until round completed) ss into top of third chain to close; break off yarn
Once you have your 8 squares you can join them in a row using my VISIBLE JOIN.
Next post we will add a row of stripes to your row of squares and I will add a pattern for a different square!
HAPPY CROCHETING!!
PS: Joining the link-up at HAZEL'S CROCHET
Day 54 and my Mood Blanket is becoming increasingly difficult to photograph!
I have to say that it requires extreme restraint on my part to only do that one teeny tiny square everyday!
This project will take me 365 days to complete (an exercise in patience) - no afghan has EVER taken me that long!!!
I am determined though to keep this a true Mood Blanket and to only do that one square every day - selecting the colour assigned to my Mood for that day!
So far, so good.....!
Linking this post at HAZEL'S CROCHET
46 Days into 2014 - and my Mood Blanket has grown to 46 squares.
I have been forcing myself to work in the ends every day after I have added my square.
361 squares x 6 ends per square = 2166 ends! Not something I want to be faced with on the 27th of December!
Linking this post at HAZEL'S CROCHET
Still making a square a day for my Mood Blanket!
Still loving the way the colour evolves in an unplanned fashion.
January 1 - 31 my squares were made dark centre, light petals
February I am making light centres with dark petals
Linking this post at HAZEL's CROCHET
28 Days in and still having fun with the Crochet Mood Blanket.
I was thinking of changing out my colours at the start of February - crocheting the centres in the light colour and the petals in the darker colour. This way I will easily be able to differentiate the months!
Linking this post at HAZEL'S CROCHET
The first row of my Crochet Mood Blanket is done - 19 lovely little moody squares for the first nineteen days of 2014! Linking at HAZEL'S CROCHET - so hop on over to her Blog and add your progress!
We have been experiencing a heatwave here in Johannesburg (another one! SIGH!) It has been so hot that my CPU (brain) has started to melt!
I sit by the pool all day with a huge jug of iced tea and, being completely incapable of just sitting, found some crochet to keep my hands busy!
First it was a little heap of teeny tiny scraps lying
in my basket which I hooked into an odd collection of
motifs.
An idea popped into my head for a sunflower hexagon bag - I have seen a lot of hexagon bags (my favourite one by the amaaazingly talented FIONA) but have not found one with a pattern - I would have to wing it! There would be quite a lot of frogging involved in the making of the first bag and I did not want to mess up my delightful little sunflower hexagons.
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| Sunflower Hexagons |
Not feeling in the least bit sorry for the scrappy motifs they were quickly turned into hexagons by crocheting around them with what my son says is an "irredeemably ugly" colour and joining them as I went - until my little bag took shape. The handles were a nightmare - the strongest handle made the bag look a bit like a bulletproof vest (not really a good look for a bag). Eventually after about 6 tryouts and feeling really hot and bothered I just made these and decided to be done with it.
The Sunflower bag is on hold for now until a better solution for the handles comes to mind!
After that frustration, I was not in the least bit inclined to attempt to finish my other WIP's and so indulged in a bit of mindless crochet .....
making a rainbow of hexagons, squares and circles
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| Rainbow Crochet Motifs |
And a pile of granny squares which are destined to become a beach house throw
Quite a productive week in spite of the heat!!
I had a request for the pattern I am using for my Crochet Mood Blanket 2014:
My Mood Square
4ch, ss to form ring
Row 1: 4 ch (counts as 1dc 1ch), 1dc 1ch into ring (repeat 11 times) (12 x 1dc, 1ch groups) ss to close
Row 2: Into any 1ch sp, 2ch 2dc cluster, 3ch; *3dc cluster, 3ch* crochet *to* 11x (12 clusters), ss to close
Note: a 3dc cluster is formed as follows - yarn over hook, work the first part of the stitch leaving 2 loops on your hook, repeat this twice more (four loops on hook) Yarn over hook and draw through the loops on the hook to form your cluster
This is what your motif looks like once you have completed the second row:
Row 3: Into any 3ch sp crochet 3ch, 2dc; 3dc into next 3ch sp; *3tr, 3ch, 3tr (corner) into next 3ch sp; 3dc into next two 3ch spaces* 3 x from * to*; 3tr, 3ch, 3tr into last 3ch space; ss to close:
I used the JOIN-AS-YOU-GO METHOD method to connect my squares
This project linking at Hazel's Crochet
Just completed square 13 for my Crochet Mood Blanket 2014: Green - feeling inspired!
I am still really happy with the COLOURS I chose.
I had some misgivings about the randomness of the project but I think that these colours work well together.
At the start of the project I thought about using something fancier or more colourful.
I made a few test squares while trying to get my thoughts in order. 9 x popcorn stitch flower squares, 9 x simple double crochet squares and 3 x prototype of my final choice. There were enough squares to make a cushion (which is not really spectacular but it kind of grows on you!):
The 9 x popcorn flower squares make up the front.
The 9 x double crochet squares make up the back and the other 3 I used for the flap, fastened down with odd buttons.
Stumbled across this Crochet Mood Blanket 2014 challenge on Facebook (started out on Instagram, which I still have not got around to using).
The Rules are simple: Choose colours to represent your moods, then crochet 1 square a day in the colour that matches your mood for that day = 365 squares. (Or 1 square a week = 52 squares)
I am doing one square a day in these colours, with a white border:
I shall be making a total of 360 squares (allowing the spare days for bordering and finishing) - 19 blocks x 19 rows
I don't want this project to be too time consuming and so I will be using the same pattern throughout. My squares consist of 3 rounds each. Each completed square measures 8cm, which should give me a final measurement of 152cm x 152 cm - without the border.
